face

A little while back, I shared my morning skincare routine with you gals (and guys?) so this is the other half to my day, the night-time routine! I am a little less vigilant with my night routine as some days I come home absolutely knackered and can’t peel myself away from the T.V.. Gotta see who wins Survivor guys! Ha Ha and yes I know I’m a bit late with Survivor but surprisingly I hadn’t seen any publicity on it and Steve and I have been catching up on TenPlay since we got back from our travels. But, in saying all this I would NEVER skip my night routine as I know how important it is for my skin to heal and regenerate while my body is in sleep mode. Unlike my teenage years, I will now never ever go to bed with makeup on, no matter how tired I am. So let’s get into it!

Time to remove the day..

Bioderma Sensibio

Most days I come home with makeup on my face. It doesn’t matter if it’s a lot or not but what is important is that I get the stuff off! I use the Bioderma Sensibio H2o to remove my makeup and let me say this cleanser is the bomb.com!! It is a cleansing water that removes the toughest of makeup (waterproof mascara.. bye bye!) but still cares for sensitive skin. I’ve tried a few Micellar Water products and I think this one has to be the best. The Garner Micellar Water isn’t bad but I feel it really struggles with waterproof mascara and some heavy tinted lipsticks. It may be half the price but it’s also half the strength.. sorry Garnier! I just find the Bioderma so much quicker to use as it swipes everything off in one go and leaves me feeling fresh. I buy mine from Priceline here in Australia and I buy the big ass bottle to keep me covered for a while. Also worth noting is that this product doesn’t sting if it gets in your eyes.. WINNER!! Because generally, if I’m removing makeup from my eyes, I end up getting it in my eyes and some products can buuuurn.

Once I’ve done the first cleanse (makeup removal) I then go in with my Dr Hauschka Soothing cleansing milk. The cleansing milk is perfect for a night cleanse as it gently removes dirt and is made for sensitive skin. Because I’ve already done one cleanse I don’t need something too strong or abrasive and especially considering it’s just before bed my skin only needs a gentle cleanse. I simply wet my face with warm water, gently apply 2-3 pumps to my hands, warm between my fingers and apply a thin layer all over my face and neck. I then use small circular motions working from the inside areas of my face outwards (no scrubbing!), including the eye area and then remove with a warm muslin cloth. This leaves me feeling squeaky clean and refreshed, ready to apply a couple of sprays of my Dr Hauschka Facial Toner to close my pores and tone my skin.

Dr Hauschka Soothing Cleansing Milk

Dr Haushcka Toner

If I happen to be suffering from a bit of a breakout (damn hormones) I tend to leave it at that so that my skin can breathe overnight and maybe I’ll apply a bit of acne cream on trouble spots to dry up those problem areas. Otherwise when my skin is pretty normal I apply some Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Active Complex II in a light layer all over my face. As I have mentioned before, this product is a bloody gem. I feel it has really added brightness to my skin and given it back some much needed elasticity. Nothing like flying on an airplane, 200 coats of fake tan and heavy makeup to sap the skin of all its moisture! I love applying this whilst on the plane too, to keep my skin from drying out. It’s so hydrating and rich and smells like honey, I think I’m in love 🙂

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair

And that’s all folks! As I have said previously HERE, maybe twice a week I will switch up this routine for a proper deep cleanse using my Eve Lom Cleanser. Hope you enjoyed and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE belowww!

Dance makeup is a subject quite dear to my heart. Having competed for 20 years now I still remember waking up as a 6-year-old on competition mornings, my hair full of tissues (that’s how my mum used to curl it for me!) excited as ever for the fun to begin! The first step of the day was always my makeup and it was something I absolutely loved having done. It used to make me feel all grown up, plus it was mega relaxing. It’s something now that still to this day is an important part of my competition ritual. I am more than happy to have a professional do my hair for me prior to the comp but when it comes to my face, I’m a little protective. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because I don’t think they will do a good enough job because I’m sure it would be amazing but it’s just because I know that I need that time to myself to calm my nerves and get my head in the zone.

Little me

Big me

When it comes to competition makeup, all the normal rules are out the window. Forget playing up the eyes and keeping the lip neutral, or simple eyes and a statement lip.. The look is to exaggerate EVERYTHING. This means bold eyes, fierce brows, statement lips AND false lashes (Hell, do a double lash if you fancy.. No one’s judging here!). Bigger is also obviously better but I can understand the struggle for you little-er people out there as I am only 160cm tall and I have quite small features myself. The key is to make your features look strong and clear. Remember, your audience could be looking at you from a balcony 3-4 floors higher than you.. What do you want them to see? For me its eyes, lips and brows as I think these are the most expressive features on the face 🙂

Dark eyes, Hot pink Lip

Bold, Blackpool makeup

Pinky, soft tones

There are a few things to bear in mind when buying competition makeup but an important one is longevity. Whilst you want the fullest coverage and the most pigmented products, you don’t necessarily want them dripping down your face when you decide to really start to go for it in that last Quickstep (or Jive for you latin go-ers out there!). This is why its important to use products that are more professionally based. Some brands that I like are Estee Lauder (I use Doublewear Foundation in medium coverage for comps, but you could even go for their full coverage too), MAC which is always great when it comes to eyeshadows, lipsticks and powder foundations (I love the studio fix powder) and Urban Decay (Naked palettes are awesome). If you are looking at going a bit more high-end then the Chanel Les 4 Ombres eyeshadow palettes are perfect as they give you 4 shades that work beautifully together and always include one extremely light and dark shade. They are always well pigmented, have a buttery consistency and there are so many palettes to choose from that you really can’t go wrong when trying to play up your eye colour!

One last thing that I absolutely swear by on a comp day is some sort of fixative spray. This stuff is a game changer when it comes to locking your makeup to your face and gives you a bit of needed armoury when the sweat hits. No longer will you need to spend time between each round fixing your dribbley makeup and instead you could be fixing your dribbley dancing! Just joking, your dancing isn’t dribbley, its lovely 🙂 At the moment I’m using Maybelline Super Stay Makeup locking setting spray which I bought in the UK and is working an absolute treat but I’ve also heard that MAC Fix Plus Spray is awesome.

My gorgeous friend Rachel Macintosh and I decided to pair together and make a couple of videos giving you guys a little run down on both comp makeup and hair! This week it’s the makeup and Rachel creates a super bold and bright pink and gold look on me 🙂 Rachel used to dance herself, so girl understands the importance of how overdone everything needs to look out there. All products we used are listed in the video and she gives step by step instructions of whats she’s doing and HOW she’s doing it (the million dollar question!!) So if you’re interested in having a gander, then watch the video below 🙂

So I hope you enjoyed this little collaboration post with my gal Rach. Stay tuned as next week we will be uploading another video with me doing a comp hairstyle using Rachel as my crash test dummy.. I mean model. Exciting stuff! Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to both my bloggy blog and Rach’s YouTube channel Rachelmareemacintosh. Also you can follow me on instagram @rachelle.plaass and follow Macca on @rachelmacintoshmua 🙂

Make-up is and kinda always has been an important part of my life. I know it’s not something we gals particularly need but it is something that I enjoy and brings me happiness everyday. That makes it pretty significant right?! So, I decided that maybe I would share my simplest version of my daily face paint sesh. I, along with most of you make-up lovers, go through phases with my make-up… Marilyn inspired if I’ve watched an old school movie, minimalist and dewy if I’m feeling al-a-natural, and sometimes I just have random creative days (some hits and some, serious misses). That’s what I love so much about make-up though! You can explore your inner artsy Picasso side whilst also showing off your feelings or how you wish to be perceived. Whilst I am a bit of a floater, chopping and changing all the time I do have a few things that I do which I hardly ever veer from; porcelain coverage, brows, eyelashes, blush and lipstick. These are the Rachelle essentials! Anything else and I probably had a little bit of extra time that morning.. or I ran late.

So lets get to it! This usually takes me roughly 15-20 minutes from start to finish 🙂

My daily essentials!

I like to always start by priming my face. I have had that Napolean Perdis slogan “not to prime, is a crime” stuck in my head ever since I first heard it and it kindly reminds me when I run out of primer that I am doing my face a disservice. Haven’t quite found the primer of my dreams yet though, so if anyone has one they would recommend for normal skin then please share! Today I just used a simple one from Rimmel

I then go on to apply my foundation. This changes depending on a few things; the weather, my tan (or lack thereof) and if I want to be completely flawless or more natural. Most of the time when I am working I prefer more medium coverage but for my relaxed days where I get a massage or I haven’t got much work, just practice then I go for a cc cushion (I love the IOPE CC Cushion!). Today I’m going for a mix of Estee Lauder Double wear in Ecru and Marc Jacobs Genius Gel in Ivory Light. The reason I am mixing the two is because I am not light enough for the Ivory Light at the moment but the Double Wear is slightly too dark. Easy fixed, mix them together! Sounds like something Goldilocks should have thought of am I right? More porridge = happiness, anyway I digress.. I apply the mixture to my face with a MAC foundation brush working from the centre of my face outwards and once I have smoothed it to my liking I tap in with my fingers.

I next go in with Becca under eye corrector to start brightening up those mighty dark circles. I apply with a small concealer brush in a small triangle under my eye and then go back in with my ring finger making sure it has all blended in nice and smoothly

Next up, concealer! Time to say goodbye to tired-ness and hello to some brighter more awake eyes! I’m still using my little testers from Sephora of the Bye, Bye under eye from It cosmetics and I can really feel a sole blog post being dedicated to this stuff coming up very soon. It is pure concealer heaven for those of us who want max coverage but dewy, creamy texture. I just go straight in with my ring finger and dot it on where I need it and then lightly press it under my eyes and taking any excess onto my eyelids

To set my concealer I brush on a small amount of Laura Mercier loose powder with a small fluffy brush. Depending on whether I want to set my whole face I may grab a bigger fluffy brush and lightly tap the powder all over my t-zone 🙂

Then I move onto my brows. Hoping that they are co-operating with me that day I comb them through with a small toothbrush I got whilst travelling and then fill them in with my angle brush. Once I’ve outlined and filled them in I go over with a little bit of the Brow this way brow gel from Rimmel. If you want to know a bit more about my brows then please click here

Foundation fun!

Applying some brow gel

Brows done I then ponder whether I can be bothered with eyeshadow that day. If it’s truly just the basic essentials that I’m feeling (like today) then I skip eyeshadow and head straight for liner. Most days I do powder liner using a small angle brush and pick any dark coloured eyeshadow I have kicking around. Today I used my Naked 3 palette, opting for the colour Blackheart. I only do half a cat eye taking the brush from the centre of my eyelashes outward in a straight line and then fill in from the corner of my eye to that line to form a small triangle

Then I hit my lashes with a couple of coats of mascara. Today I used a mascara I bought in Japan as they have great products for lashes! This mascara is by the brand Dolly Wink and its fabbo. I do a double coat on both top and bottom lashes

I then take a white pencil, today I’m using one from MaxFactor and line my bottom water line. I do this most days and feel it gives my eyes a bigger more open look which I love because my eyes are on the smaller side 🙂

I love pinky or peachy, powder puff type blushes and the brand Canmake (another Japanese brand sorry guys!) makes the most gorgeous colour palettes. I have a couple and generally switch between the two, one being very pink, the other quite peach. Today I’m going for pink and applying with the little brush they supply with the blush. If your interested in some Canmake products then please click here!

Stop! Mascara time!

Blushing

NYX Lips

I generally always finish with my lips and never seem to be satisfied with just a plain old gloss. I ALWAYS rock lipstick. Safe to say that it’s my fave make-up product. Most days I will go with something neutral, like a nude or a pink. Today I lined my lips in NYX Nude Pink, then applied NYX Naturel over the top and then finished with MAC Arrowhead to give a bit of paleness and dimension to the flat colour. Arrowhead has quickly become my favourite lipstick to apply on top of other lipsticks as I’m a sucker for a darker outline around a lip with a lighter centre and this nude colour is so opaque it just blends with any colour and gives a beautiful matte finish. Big fan!

Then to combine everything together I give my face a couple of spritzes of the Caudalie Beauty Elixir. It smells oh so fresh, sets my make-up in place and gives an immediate burst of radiance to my finished face. I bought the small tester of this product as I had heard great things and will definitely be going back for the big boy version as soon as this one runs out! Head on over to Sephora to buy this product.

So there you have it! My quick and easy daily makeup routine 🙂 If you have any questions about the products or want some more information feel free to hit up my comments box below!

Love, Rachelle xx

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A good set of brows in my opinion, can really do wonders for the face. I like to think of them as the cherry on top of my daily makeup regime. In saying this though, I wasn’t always in this frame of mind. It actually took me roughly 20 years to even realise that my brows were an integral feature of my face. I went through those first 20 years completely oblivious and eyebrow-less (because I’m quite fair), which looking back at old photos now is pretty darn hilarious. It wasn’t until I learnt a bit more about competitive dance make-up and make-up in general that I started putting a little more care into my little friends. When I say putting a ‘little’ care into them that might be a slight understatement. At first, I went to TOWN on those bad boys. I got my brow pencil, sharpened it and didn’t know when or where to stop (photos of this stage, also hilarious). My brows back then are what some may say “large and in charge” and in short, I looked like I had been attacked by Mr. Squiggle. I had never plucked, waxed or given any time into grooming them before and this definitely showed when I decided to colour them in. It wasn’t until one trip to the UK in 2011 that I decided to bite the bullet and try threading.

Brow-less and proud!

By 2010/2011 I’d found them..

I remember my friend had just gotten her brows threaded the day before I did and once I had seen how amazing hers looked I was SOLD! Tentative, but sold. I sat down at the brow stall and told the lady that I had never done anything to my brows before so I was nervous, trying to hint that I was a total rookie when it came to brow pain. It hurt a little bit and some tears were shed but not because I am a total wuss but just because that is a natural response when it comes to threading. I know this now after 5 years of crying my way through the ordeal. Wow, I am not selling this at all! Believe me the pain is not that bad and its very quick and efficient 🙂 Once she was done, she gave me the mirror and I was so shocked at how it had completely changed my face! My eyes looked more open and my face had some structure! I also remember the first time I did my make-up afterwards, marveling at the size of my eyelids! Hair free eyelids!! As an added bonus, I also started to receive compliments on my brows, which was something I was not really used to.. this threading stuff was a winner!

Brows now.

Brows now with competition makeup

It was also around this time that I then started getting my brows tinted as well. If I didn’t get them professionally tinted then I would do a good old DIY job at home with some brow dye from Priceline. This was fine when I was blonde as I would get my brows coloured medium/dark brown to match my regrowth. This all changed though when I decided to go red. No longer did my brown brows look right with copper-y auburn hair. It made my hair look super fake and my brows stood out in a way that was not very Cara Delevigne-esque, After a little bit of playing around with different products and colours I finally found a concoction that I now use daily. Coincidentally, I already had a red eyeshadow in my makeup bag (Cranberry by MAC) which I mix with a little bit of brown eyeshadow and apply with an angle brush. Obviously my hair colour is quite unique and it was a little harder to find the right colour so that’s why I’m a big fan of mixing a couple of colours to come up with the perfect match. I also find using eyeshadows great because my hair colour is quite strong when its just been dyed and naturally fades so I can ramp up the colour and lighten it as I please from day to day.

My much loved brow products

Another product I use pretty much daily and have been for the last year or so is some form of eyebrow gel. I love Benefit’s gimme brow, but I’ve also used other products too that work just as well. At the moment I’m using Rimmel Brow this way Eyebrow gel and it’s a real treat for the eye..brows. This stuff sets and gives definition to the individual hairs in your brows, which is great if you are fair like me. Also, on those days that I just cant be bothered doing a full on eyebrow, I simply pop some of this stuff on and away I go! It’s a very natural look that takes less than 30 seconds to apply.

Post-threading on Snapchat! Follow me @rachellemp

So, if you haven’t tried threading before then I highly recommend it! There are brow stalls popping up everywhere these days, I see at least one at every Westfield I go to. It’s quick (only takes about 5 minutes), relatively cheap (around $20), and lasts for a good while (I only tend to get mine done every couple of months or so). All of the ladies that I have had are professional and don’t really need any advice on what you would like done as it seems they generally try to go with your face structure and work from there. I have sometimes asked if they can give me a high arch from which their response is “I will do my best”, haha meaning.. your face really isn’t helping me with that one. You simply sit down, pull your eyelids and forehead apart and they get to business!

One word of warning though, try to go there sans make-up around the brow area. Or if you are wearing make-up ask the lady if she will kindly remove it for you before she starts. The reason being that it’s easy for dirt and excess make-up to get clogged in the open pores which can then result in an unwanted breakout. I speak from experience here, I once got my brows done with a full face of make-up on and didn’t get it removed. I thought nothing of it and headed home and cleansed and toned as usual but the damage was already done. I woke the next morning to a rather large colony of pimples framing my new fabulous brows (62 to be precise, yes I counted). This is not ideal when you want to show off said fab brows but then feel like hiding them under a heavy fringe for a week until the pimples have racked off! So take heed ladies, cleanse and tone before and after! I have also read that witch hazel is great to apply afterwards to calm down sensitivity and close the pores and that anything too oily/creamy should be avoided for a couple of days.

Got any brow advice? Products you love? Hit up the comments below and share 🙂

I’m one of those types of gals that is constantly chopping and changing when it comes to skincare products. Maybe it’s because I haven’t yet felt the touch of my skin care BAE #sarcasmintended or maybe its just because I am living in the ‘grass is greener’ mindset. Either way, its lead me to become a little bit of a guinea pig in my own skincare journey.

I have pretty normal type skin, the occasional breakout before flow comes to town is about the worst of it. But… I spend a buttload (literally) of time sat on an airplane. Let me tell you, the silver flying box really isn’t a trip to the facialist. So because of this, I have been told (by a lovely lady at Dermalogica) my skin can sometimes be on the drier side.

This is usually my story when I head into any beauty department store on the hunt for new skincare and recently it landed me at Lancôme. I haven’t tried any of Lancôme’s products in the past but as a cult Lisa Eldridge follower on YouTube (she is currently the global creative director for Lancôme for those of you wondering!) I was more than willing to give some stuff a go. I ended up coming away with the Doceur cleansing duo and the Hydra zen gift pack… Bring on the freebies!

After using the products for well over 2 and a half months now I am a) noticing a change in my skin, b) all out of the freebies *see photo above and c) receiving lovely comments on my skin, win!

The products all have a slight floral scent and whilst bringing moisture and life back into my skin they don’t at all feel heavy and oily like some products I’ve tried for dry skin in the past. I love the whole ritual of cleansing, toning and moisturising, whether its to wake myself up or help wind down after a rough day at the dance studio so I use these products morning and night, switching the day and night cream.. obviously!

Overall my skin feels softer and my complexion is brighter which makes me a very happy chappy! So, if your anything like me with skin that can sometimes rival an arid desert I really recommend you give these products a try. I know they are a little on the pricey side but if you try them through buying the gift packs you really do get your money’s worth with all the added extras! Besides if there’s one thing we should all be investing in (in my opinion) it’s our skin as we wear it for life 🙂

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Rachelle is a 27 year old Australian Professional Ballroom Champion living in Sydney, NSW. Travelling the world she is constantly inspired by whatever surrounds her and that is reflected in Pink Suede. Have a look around and enjoy!